Top U.S., Soviet Envoys Open Meetings

Top U.S. and Soviet diplomats opened intensive meetings here Saturday on a range of concerns including the Soviet crackdown on the rebellious Baltic states--an issue that could delay or even abort the scheduled February summit between President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

Secretary of State James A. Baker III and the new Soviet foreign minister, Alexander A. Bessmertnykh, said after two hours of talks that the summit dates will be decided after Bessmertnykh talks with Bush Monday.

Meanwhile, Bessmertnykh indicated that Moscow may be adopting a slightly more critical stand toward U.S. activities in the gulf.

Bessmertnykh’s comments warning against the dangers posed by the Gulf War were particularly surprising because they put some distance between the Soviet and U.S. positions for the first time. His remarks may well have been intended to remind Washington that if it wants to keep Moscow fully aligned against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, its criticism on the Baltic issue may have to be muted.

In their two-hour meeting, Baker and Bessmertnykh agreed that efforts to complete the long-negotiated Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) are not yet complete. The agreement was to have been signed at the Feb. 11-13 summit in Moscow. But the summit date is in jeopardy.

Bush said last week that he was undecided on the summit, citing the Baltic repression, the Gulf War and the seeming impasse on the START pact. He will decide the issue after meeting with Bessmertnykh at the White House on Monday, officials said.

Bessmertnykh, only two weeks in the job following the resignation of Eduard A. Shevardnadze, said there was no “major” change in Soviet policy toward the United States and expressed guarded optimism about the summit and the arms treaty.

“I am optimistic of the necessity to have a summit happen,” he said carefully on arrival here. But then he added: “We’ll discuss the timing and circumstances for it.”

His words suggest that Moscow is reconciled to some postponement of the meeting, which it openly wants to go forward as planned but which the Bush Administration is becoming increasingly pressured to postpone or even cancel.

Bush had made clear in an earlier meeting with Baltic leaders that he would prefer to go ahead with the summit. He has said a summit should not be used as reward or punishment for any specific action, and he clearly wants the START agreement finalized while Gorbachev remains in control of foreign affairs.

But congressional criticism of Moscow has become very strong. Both houses have condemned the Soviet moves in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and demanded suspension of U.S. credits and other assistance to the Soviets. Moreover, although Bessmertnykh will remain here through Tuesday to work on the outstanding START issues, completing the treaty in two weeks will require an extraordinary effort and risk the leaving of loopholes that might later embarrass the Administration.

The war in the gulf is also a primary concern of the talks.

Bessmertnykh told the Soviet news agency Tass just before leaving Moscow that the U.S.-led air war against Iraq was creating “a growing danger for the country’s civilian population.”

He reaffirmed Moscow’s support for the United Nations resolution authorizing use of force to eject Iraqi from Kuwait, but added:

“There are growing apprehensions that we are entering the second serious phase of the conflict when, in addition to the task of liberating Kuwait, envisaged in the Security Council resolutions, there is a growing threat that Iraq is subject to very grave damage.”

Expanding on this theme here, he said “you’ve got to be careful about the scale of the military operation so that American servicemen, and the civilian population of Iraq . . . and the economic infrastructure of Iraq should not become the victim of what is happening,” for that was not the U.N.’s intention.

On the Baltics, Bessmertnykh admitted that “differences have emerged” between Washington and Moscow.